Introduction

You’ve probably seen the adverts, heard about it on the news or had someone talk to you about it, cryptocurrencies are hot topic for discussion. They have literally made certain people millionaires sometimes overnight other times over the space of a few years. What is obvious, is that people are waking up to the fact that Bitcoin and its many clones are on the rise and they are here to stay. Moreover, the Cryptocurrency market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Since the inception of Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 it alone has gone up by around 9 million percent in the last ten years, which is mind blowing when compared to other traditional assets that people invest in. That is more than the famous FANG shares of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google (Alphabet), more than what gold and silver have gone up by along with investment wines and whiskies, so for those who are willing to take the plunge and invest, yes they will be in for a rocky ride but surely the high profits are worth that initial fear factor and intrepidation that comes from entering a market that really is still in its infancy yet at the same time is established enough to be worth over $3 trillion according to Time magazine (November 2021).

The Technology

Don’t be deceived with all these pictures of the Bitcoin logo engraved into gold coins because the technology behind Bitcoin is worlds apart and very much based on algorithms and encryptions and made possible through a software program run on computers with high powered hardware connected all over the world by the Internet. The key to Bitcoin’s and its offspring’s’ success is the drive towards high-speed transactions along with anonymity in an age which is becoming increasing more digital, and Internet based, especially after the international Covid pandemic and the rise in people working from home, and with mankind’s increasing dependence on computers to carry out every task imaginable it’s obvious that we are now moving towards a computer backed dependency on global currencies in the form of digitized money!